Burt Kennedy directed some very fine Westerns like THE WAR WAGON and THE TRAIN ROBBERS but here he tackles a TV production with less well known actors, though Stacy Keach was riding the crest of his wave in 1974, having starred in high quality films like DOC and FAT CITY.
Keach manages to sound credible in a difficult to believe part of an adult man who is lured by a seven year old into coming into a house of parentless youngsters where everybody is hoping to have a pa and a ma and, to that end, they have already shanghaied pretty Samantha Eggar.
The open end does not clarify whether everyone's quest - apart, it seems from Peter, played rather schizophrenically by John Savage - will succeed, and whether they will form a family unit or social welfare will be the future for those kids.
Eggar is underutilized, as is Robbie Benson and exceedingly beautiful Arlene Farber. Wonderful set of guard dogs, especially the Rottweiler... but you have to wonder how these kids living in the back of beyond, away from school and any form of civilization, actually manage to keep some seven dogs in excellent condition, clearly well fed and trained, with collars and shiny hair.
If you manage to suspend your disbelief - like just switch off your logic brain cells - you will enjoy the cinematography, the canines, the acting, the singing, and even the film's flaws. 7/10.
Keach manages to sound credible in a difficult to believe part of an adult man who is lured by a seven year old into coming into a house of parentless youngsters where everybody is hoping to have a pa and a ma and, to that end, they have already shanghaied pretty Samantha Eggar.
The open end does not clarify whether everyone's quest - apart, it seems from Peter, played rather schizophrenically by John Savage - will succeed, and whether they will form a family unit or social welfare will be the future for those kids.
Eggar is underutilized, as is Robbie Benson and exceedingly beautiful Arlene Farber. Wonderful set of guard dogs, especially the Rottweiler... but you have to wonder how these kids living in the back of beyond, away from school and any form of civilization, actually manage to keep some seven dogs in excellent condition, clearly well fed and trained, with collars and shiny hair.
If you manage to suspend your disbelief - like just switch off your logic brain cells - you will enjoy the cinematography, the canines, the acting, the singing, and even the film's flaws. 7/10.